INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A new smoking ban takes effect Friday in Indianapolis,
leaving South Bend as the largest among a dwindling number of Indiana cities
that still allow restaurant and bar patrons to light up during a meal or a
drink.

That distinction also could be changing soon.

The Indianapolis ordinance will cover bars and taverns, bowling alleys and
most other workplaces and public spaces while exempting tobacco shops, hooka
bars and private clubs that vote to allow people to light up.

It will bring the state’s capital and largest city in line with Fort Wayne,
Evansville, Bloomington, Delaware County (Muncie), Elkhart, West Lafayette
and other communities in protecting workers from the secondhand smoke of
others.

A similar ordinance takes effect in Terre Haute in July, when a weaker
statewide ban also becomes law.

“I’m hoping it will be a ripple effect across the state,” said Rep. Charlie
Brown, D-Gary, and one of the top promoters of a statewide smoking ban.

St. Joseph County, which includes South Bend, has had an ordinance in place
for six years that allows smoking in bars and in separate rooms of
restaurants, exposing servers, bartenders and employees to secondhand smoke,
tobacco opponents say.

“This is about providing equal, fair and safe working conditions for all
Hoosiers. Just because you happen to work in a bar should not put you in a
health hazard that I’m protected from,” said Jill Sabo, tobacco-free
coordinator for St. Joseph Regional Medical Center, the lead agency for
Tobacco Free St. Joseph County.

Sabo said she’s drafting a more comprehensive anti-smoking ordinance to be
presented soon to the South Bend Common Council. The draft banning smoking
in bars and restaurants has the support of at least four of the council’s
nine members and Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Mayoral spokeswoman Debra Johnson
would not confirm Buttigieg’s support for a tougher smoking ban.

The state’s own less strict smoking ban is due to take effect July 1.

The Indianapolis ordinance, spurred by the city hosting the Super Bowl in
February, expands the current smoking ban, which permits smoking in bars and
restaurants that do not admit children under age 18.

That 2005 law prompted neighboring cities including Carmel, Greenwood and
Lawrence to put in place similar bans, said Lindsay Grace, who chairs Smoke
Free Indy.

“Indianapolis kind of set the standard for other communities,” Grace said.
Already, the city of Lawrence, an enclave within Indianapolis where the new
ordinance does not apply, will take up a tougher ban next month.

She noted the first statewide ban wasn’t approved until seven years after
Indianapolis acted.

“It’s nearly impossible to get a good statewide law without having good
local ordinances in place,” Grace said.

Dr. Gregory Larkin, Indiana’s health commissioner, said the state ban sets a
minimal standard across the state for protecting people from secondhand
smoke.

“It wouldn’t be surprising to me that more communities will take what the
state has done and make their own community ban a bit tighter,” Larkin said.

He endorsed the new Indianapolis ban and hopes other communities will follow
suit. “It’s one of those things that there’s a direct cause and effect. If
you put effective policies in place, the results are very clear about the
number of avoidable heart attacks, lung disease and other issues,” Larkin
said.

Others, however, aren’t happy with the Indianapolis ordinance. Bar patron
Bobby Ray Long has filed a federal lawsuit challenging it, arguing the ban
violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. He’s asked a
judge to issue a restraining order blocking the ordinance.